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St. Charles reports slight drop in affordable-housing share; officials weigh zoning tweaks and fee changes
Summary
Director Colby told the Committee of the Whole the city ffordable housing share fell modestly from 8.3% to 8%, with ownership affordability down to 6.2% while rental affordability held at 11.6%. Council asked staff to calculate how many units are needed to reach a 10% state benchmark and discussed ADUs, fee waivers and pro formas from developers.
Director Colby presented the city nnual affordable-housing update at the Committee of the Whole meeting, saying the analysis "found a slight drop in the percentage of affordable share from 8.3% to 8%." The presentation showed ownership-affordability slipping to 6.2% while rental affordability remained at 11.6%.
Colby noted the key metric the city follows is a state standard of at least a 10% affordable-housing supply and said St. Charles remained above that threshold based on the state ata from 2023, with the next statewide update scheduled for 2028. "So from a policy standpoint ... we continue to advocate for affordable units to be provided in new projects as well as encouraging new development where appropriate to help grow the housing supply overall in the city," Colby said.
Councilmembers pressed staff for concrete numbers. "I'm not really happy with the direction this is going," said Councilmember Ron, who asked staff to calculate "how many units we would need to get above 10%." Colby said staff does not have that exact number in the meeting packet but can calculate a range that varies year-to-year depending on assessed values and rents.
Members discussed tools the city could use to slow loss of ownership-affordable units, including revisiting teardown formulas in some wards, fee waivers, modifying minimum parking requirements and allowing accessory dwelling units (ADUs). Colby said staff has asked recent residential developers, including one project referred to as Bridal Commons, to provide pro formas showing whether affordable units can be included and, if not, what dollar amounts would be required to make them feasible.
A member of the Housing Commission encouraged councilmembers to bring ideas to that body for further study. Council asked staff to return with calculations of units needed to meet the 10% threshold, and to explore zoning or programmatic tools (community land trusts, fee modifications or targeted incentives) that could support preservation and production of affordable units.
The city did not adopt any new ordinance or fee at the meeting; staff indicated next steps will include follow-up analysis and coordination with the Housing Commission and developers.
